Elegoo H1 HT review: This filament drybox finally fixes the biggest issue with the Centauri Carbon 2 3D printer — and feels like a sign that Elegoo's getting serious with its upgrades now

by · TechRadar

TechRadar Verdict

This dryer shows a distinct change in Elegoo. It’s high quality and stylish without the graphics that so often adorn their machines, and shows a company taking things seriously. At £62, the H1 HT offers up to 85°C drying, an outstanding touchscreen and print-through outlets depending on material type, and the difference to print quality is marked. It fixes the Centauri Carbon 2's open-spool weakness, though one unit covers just one spool, so you’ll need four.

Pros

  • +Excellent build quality
  • +Print directly from the dryer
  • +Best touchscreen on any dryer

Cons

  • -One spool per unit
  • -No printer communication or app

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Filament absorbs moisture as soon as you break the seal of the packaging, and that moisture will affect the quality of your prints, and it’s a problem that until recently no one talked about.

The effect of damp filament, even if it feels dry to the touch, shows up as stringing, popping, weak layer adhesion, and prints that just look slightly worse than they should. Because it creeps in gradually, you usually blame the printer, whereas it’s often the material.

The H1 HT is Elegoo's first dryer. It arrives to tackle one of the major quibbles with the otherwise excellent Centauri Carbon 2 (see my review here). Essentially, the fact that the machine features an open-air spool design, leaving filament exposed to whatever humidity the room happens to have.

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In the case of my workshop at some points of the year, that can be high. This drybox is the company's answer. It's designed to take a single 1kg spool, heats to a maximum of 85°C, rotates the spool for even exposure and vents humid air automatically before sealing itself shut again.

The clever part is that you don't have to stop printing to use it and it’s not confined to use with just Elegoo machines. The design features two filament outlets that let you run the dryer as a heated dry box, feeding the printer while it keeps your filaments in prime condition.

ELEGOO H1 HT: Price and availability

The H1 HT is available for $70 from Elegoo's US site, and for £62 from the UK site.

For a single dryer, that's extremely well priced and undercuts most established names while offering a higher maximum temperature and, frankly, better design.

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